


The Little Twinkles In Your Eyes

by nctbabies



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, markhyuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-09-22 17:57:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9618776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nctbabies/pseuds/nctbabies
Summary: When Donghyuck thought his day couldn't get any worse, he met a certain boy named Mark Lee...





	1. Monday, in all it's glory

Donghyuck was having a sweet dream before he was rudely awakened by his wailing alarm clock. 7:00. He grumbled a few incoherent words before pressing the snooze button and turning over in his bed.

He opened his eyes again and looked at the clock. _Shit_. It was already 7:37. He had exactly eight minutes to get ready and catch his bus or else he would be in big trouble.

His first period on monday was English taught by Ms. Kim, to say she hated him and his friends would be an understatement. Once he cracked a joke about how she looked like one of the gremlins, thinking she wouldn't hear it. Boy, was he wrong. He ended up getting detention for six weeks.

So being late in her class wouldn't really score him any points. When Jeno was late last time, she gave him detention for four weeks, and Donghyuck really didn't want to share his fate.

He got out of bed as quickly as he could, threw on a hoodie that was hanging over his desk chair, slipped into his jeans, put on a pair of sneakers and stormed (and nearly fell) down the stairs.

He hurriedly grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl, a bottle of water from the fridge, his bag from the table and ran to the busstop as fast as he could, half choking on his apple.

  
When Donghyuck arrived at the busstop, the bus was just about to leave, but luckily the busdriver saw him sprinting and yelling towards the bus and waited for him to enter.  
After getting in the bus, he sat down next to his friend Jeno, completely out of breath.

"Looks like someone overslept again."

"Oh, shut up, dude! At least I make it in time when I oversleep, unlike some of us."

"At least I can put on matching shoes, unlike some of us," Jeno said nodding towards Donghyuck's shoes with a grin on his face. Donghyuck looked down at his sneakers and his face turned bright red. He must've been in such a hurry that he didn't notice that he had put on two different kinds of shoes.

"I fucking hate mondays."

  
When they got at school they were not so pleasantly surprised with a pop quiz from their favourite English teacher Ms. Kim for the first 15 minutes of the class.

Donghyuck absolutely failed the test. How the hell was he supposed to know what kind of person Gertrude was to Hamlet?  
After the torture that was the pop quiz was over, Ms. Kim started her lesson.

"Well, children. After such a great start of the day," _a great start?_ Donghyuck thought to himself, _does she really hate us that much_?

"I'd like to introduce you to our new student."

A boy with reddish-brown hair was standing next to her, Donghyuck only just noticed.

"This is Mark, everyone. He just moved over here from Canada. Please tell them something about yourself."

"Uhm, hi everyone. My name is Mark Lee. I like basketball and I play guitar and that's about it, I guess." Mark said grinning nervously and scratching his head. Donghyuck heard some girls next to him swooning over his words. _Great, another show-off athlete, that can swoop all the girls of their feet while playing guitar. What a poser_.

"Well how nice is that! Hopefully you feel right at home at our school, Mark. You can sit over there, behind Donghyuck," Ms. Kim said smiling. Donghyuck wanted to throw up seeing her pretend to be so nice.

Mark mumbled a quick thank you before heading over to his assigned spot.

It was only 8:20 am and today was already one of the worst days of Donghyuck's life.

  
The English lesson almost came to an end and Donghyuck counted down the minutes until he was freed from this hell, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Donghyuck looked back, seeing Mark only inches away from his face.

"Could you maybe tell me where the Chemistry classroom is? It's my next class and I have no idea where to go and I don't want to be late," Mark whispered. Donghyuck had to admit, Mark was a pretty handsome guy. He got why the girls were staring at him the entire lesson. But he still seemed like poser, taking notes the entire time. Who even does that?

"Yeah, it's the classroom on the most right on the second floor."  
"Lee Donghyuck." _Fuck_. He was so fucked right now.

"It's only Mark's first day and you are already keeping him of his work," Ms. Kim said with a voice full of disapproval.

"But miss, he asked-"

"I will have a word with you after class."

  
As he thought the day couldn't get any worse when he got four weeks detention from Ms. Kim, the world decided to screw him over again.

Walking into his Chemistry class, Donghyuck saw the only free spot left was next to Mark. _Absolutely fantastic_.

He sat down, annoyed as hell, and took his books out of his bag.

  
"Hey, sorry dude. I didn't know she would get mad at you for talking," Mark apologized.

"Well now you know," Donghyuck bitterly replied.

 

  
The rest of the lesson Donghyuck spent his time trying to ignore Mark's existence. Everything he did annoyed him so much. Raising his hand in the air for every question the teacher asked, answering all of them right, writing down all the notes and even making the exercises. _Damn, this Mark boy is annoying_.

  
It was 10:00 am and it was finally break-time. Donghyuck packed his stuff as quickly as he could and speedwalked out of the classroom to the cafeteria, where his friends were already sitting at a table.

"So how bad did Ms. Gremlin screw you over this time?" Jaemin asked.

"I got four weeks..." Donghyuck sighed as he sat down.

"Four weeks for talking? This is child abuse!" Renjun proclaimed.

"Well it could've been worse, remember that time when Jaemin forgot his pencil case so I gave him a pen and both of us got five weeks of detention for "disturbing her lesson"?" Jeno reminded them.

"Yeah, she really fucking hates us," Donghyuck said.

"Hey, isn't that that new guy Mark? Let's invite him to eat with us." Jaemin suggested. Mark was looking around the cafeteria for a place to sit with a lost look in his eyes.

"Oh, hell no," Donghyuck replied ,"it's his fault I got detention and he looks like a dick anyway."

"Come on, dude. He probably isn't that bad. You barely even know the guy!"

"I know he got me in trouble and if my mom finds out she'll kill me. And that's all I need to know."

But all of Donghyuck's objections were ignored as the three other boys waved and shouted at Mark for him to join them. Donghyuck hoped that Mark wouldn't see them, but he did and he walked over to them with a smile. He sat down across from Donghyuck next to Renjun. _Great, now I have to stare at his stupid face for the rest of the break_.

  
For the remaining time of the break Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin asked Mark all kinds of questions, while Donghyuck just sat there sulking. Mark told them that he had moved from Canada with his parents and his little brother because his dad got a new job offered to him here. He was also the captain of the basketball team back in Canada, and he was the class president.

After hearing that Donghyuck disliked him even more, but the rest of the boys seemed to be clinging to his every word with eager smiles on their faces, to which Donghyuck could only roll his eyes.

  
After getting through six more terrible classes, of which two were even worse because he had them with Mark, Donghyuck finally got to go home.

When he got home the first thing he wanted to do was lay on his bed and do absolutely nothing, but his mom had other plans.

"Hyuckie, we just got new neighbours yesterday, so let's go visit them."

"Right now? I'm super tired, mom. Can't we go tomorrow or tonight or something?"

"No, you have to do your homework tonight. We are going right now."

Knowing it his mom wouldn't change her mind, Donghyuck gave up and they went to their new neighbours.

  
Their new neighbours lived in the house next door. A nice looking lady opened the door and welcomed them inside. She offered them a cup of tea and some cookies. _Maybe these new neighbours weren't so bad,_ Donghyuck thought. But he changed his mind in a split second after he laid his eyes upon a familiar looking figure walking inside the room.

"Mom, do you know where my laptop charger is? I can't find it anywhere."

_You've got to be fucking kidding me._

_Mark Lee is my new neighbour._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Hopefully you enjoyed reading the first chapter. This is my first ever fic, so I hope that it isn't too bad. Please tell me your thoughts about it in the comments, things you liked or things I could improve on. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day~


	2. Forest adventures

_No way in hell was this real,_ Donghyuck thought as he stared at Mark in utter shock.

"Donghyuck..." Mark said while he was trying to figure out why Donghyuck was sitting in his livingroom.

"Oh, you guys know each other already? How lovely!" Mark's mom said with a big smile on her face.

"Yeah, I know him from school."

"It's only my little Marky's first day and he's already making friends! Why don't you show your new friend your room?" Donghyuck tried to hold in his laugh. _Little Marky... How cute. I'm definitely using that against him sometime_.

"Oh, yeah. Sure." Mark said, still not fully grasping the situation.

 

  
Mark's room was really big. About twice the size of Donghyuck's, and Donghyuck's room wasn't small either. There were boxes spread all across the room, one saying "Mark's stuffed animals" maked Donghyuck chuckle. _Would he still be sleeping with stuffed animals?_

"So, not trying to be rude or anything. But what are you doing in my house?" Mark asked.

"I guess we're neighbours."

"Really? That's so cool, dude!" Mark said enthusiastically.

"Yeah... really cool..."

Mark sat down on his bed and patted next to him so Donghyuck would join him.

"Is it nice living here?"

"It's alright." Donghyuck said while he sat down next to Mark, keeping enough distance between them.

"Just alright?"

"Yeah, there isn't really much going on, you know. It's a bit boring."

"You have to make it fun yourself. Don't you and your friends ever do fun things?"

It's not like Donghyuck's life was super boring over here, but it wasn't spectacular either. Ofcourse he and his friends would hang out and buy ice cream from time to time, but besides that, there wasn't much going on in town.

"Sometimes we do, but there's just not a lot to do around here."

"Not even in the summer?"

"It's better during the summer, they open up the outside pool, which is closed the rest of the year. It has three slides! It's the only good thing about this damned town."

"That sounds like a lot of fun! We should go there when it opens!"  
_We? I'm not going anywhere with you_.

"Sure." _Wait, what? Why did I agree?_

"I saw there was a forest near by our street as well. Have you ever been there?"

"Yeah. Jeno, Jaemin, Renjun and I used to go there all the time when we were younger. Haven't been there in ages, though."

"I always loved walking through the forest back in Canada. It makes me feel so free and peaceful. We should go check it out!" Mark suggested as he stood up.

"Right now?"

"Ofcourse!" Mark's enthusiasm only made Donghyuck want to say no even more.

"I don't know... I think my mom wants to go home again soon. And I have to do my homework tonight," Donghyuck tried to make up the best excuse he could, but felt his heart sink when he saw Mark's disappointed eyes looking back at his, "but I could always ask my mom if she's alright with us going right now." Mark's face lit up after he heard Donghyuck's words.

"Let's ask her, right now!"

 

  
Much to Donghyuck's disappointment his mom said yes and she seemed to get a long with Mark's mom very well, which meant that he and Mark would be seeing each other a lot more outside of school, and Donghyuck wasn't too keen on that.

 

  
As they walked to the forest together, which was a few blocks away from where they lived, Mark told Donghyuck about his so called "forest adventures", Donghyuck swore he had never rolled his eyes as hard in his life after hearing Mark say that, in Canada. Like the time he saw a moose or when he saved little ducklings that were stuck in a piece of plastic. Donghyuck tried not to look too amazed, but in reality he was quite impressed. _Damn you, Mark Lee. Being all cool and nice._

  
They reached the forest after walking for about five minutes. Donghyuck noticed the little twinkles in Mark's eyes when he saw the big trees standing in front of him. _Cute... Wait what?_ Donghyuck cursed at himself for thinking that. _Why on earth would Mark be cute?_

The twinkles in Mark's eyes didn't dissapear but only shone brighter as they walked through the forest. Mark took a deep breath and inhaled the fresh forest air.

"I love the smell of the forest," he said with his eyes closed, still breathing in the air deeply through his nose.

"Look, there's a deer!" Donghyuck whisper-yelled and pointed at the brown creature to their right.

Mark's eyes shot open again and found the deer, leisurely walking around, not noticing the two boys staring at it in awe.

Mark took a step forward, making the twigs and leaves under his feet crackle. The deer looked up, maked eye contact with the boys and ran off in the opposite direction.

"Good job, dude," Donghyuck stated sarcastically," you scared it away!"

"Sorry... I didn't mean to." Mark looked upset, pouting his lower lip. Donghyuck playfully hit his arm.

"It's okay, little Marky. You don't have to cry about it," Donghyuck said teasingly.

"I'm not crying," Mark said with a embarrassed smile and hit Donghyuck back. Donghyuck shoved his shoulder against Mark's, making him lose his balance for a quick second before regaining it. Donghyuck giggled and Mark shoved him back. Donghyuck pushed his hands against Mark's chest, actually making him fall this time, and bolted away, cackling. Mark stood up again and pulled a few leaves from his hair.

"Oh, so this is how you want to play it," he said, grinning and he ran after the other boy.

When he finally caught up to him, he tackled him to the ground, both laughing. Mark sat on top of Donghyuck, pinning his arms to the ground.

"I win," he declared with a smile on his face.

"I don't think so," Donghyuck said and he pushed Mark of him with all his might.

After wrestling through the leaves for a couple of minutes, and scaring all the animals in a three mile radius, Mark was on top again and started tickling Donghyuck.

"Stop! Stop!" Donghyuck shouted with laughter.

"Only if you admit I win," Mark said, not stopping with tickling the shrieking boy underneath him.

"Okay! Okay! You win!" Mark got off of Donghyuck with a content smile and held his hand out to help Donghyuck get up. Donghyuck grabbed his hand and yanked Mark down to the floor again.

"That's what you get for cheating," he commented and got up.

"I didn't cheat! There weren't even any rules!"

"You're still a cheater," Donghyuck said, sticking his nose up in the air.  
Mark laughed at his childish behaviour and got up on his feet again.

"I think we should head back again, we've been out for about an hour already," Mark said as he checked his phone.

"It's been an hour already?" Donghyuck couldn't believe it.

_Have I actually been walking around with Mark for an hour? And actually enjoying it? I must be getting sick or something._

  
And so they headed back home, still joking and laughing _. Maybe Mark Lee wasn't that bad of a guy after all..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody~ I hope you liked the second chapter! Please tell me what you thought of it in the comments. And omg the nct dream comeback killed me. My boy Hyuckie has so many parts, I just love his voice so much! And the choreo is amazing too! Anyways, have a wonderful day!


	3. Psychopath in training

How Donghyuck could have ever thought that Mark was alright was a mystery to him now. Everywhere they went there were girls staring at him. _Okay, he's pretty good looking, but he's not that handsome that he needs to be stared at every second of the day._  
It was only his second day and he had already received three confessions, which he all rejected. Not like Donghyuck counted or anything.

  
"Hey, dude. Wanna go to the forest again after school?" Mark had stopped Donghyuck in the hallway after their last class had ended.

"No, I can't. Detention, remember?" He replied, feeling annoyed," why don't you ask one of the girls? They all seem to like you."

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I completely forgot. I could wait for you. I mean, that's the least thing I could do. I got you into trouble in the first place."

"No, it's okay. Just go with someone else if you want to go that badly." Donghyuck was getting more and more frustrated. _Why could he never take no for an answer?_

"But I want to go with you," Mark softly admitted.

"Well, I don't. So just leave me alone and go home." Donghyuck saw Mark's eyes fall down after hearing his response. Mark muttered a quiet "okay" before walking away. Donghyuck watched him as he left the hallway. _Was I too harsh on him?_

But Donghyuck's thoughts quickly changed as he remembered his detention. If he was late Ms. Kim would kill him and he wasn't up for that. So he quickly ran to the classroom where Ms. Kim was already waiting for him.

  
Detention was absolute hell. Ms. Kim made him write a 600-word essay on why English class is an important subject and mustn't be disturbed and he couldn't leave until he was finished.

After an hour he had only written the first three paragraphs and he slowly felt his soul leave his body. _This is torture._ But he didn't want to sit in this classroom, finishing his essay for the rest of the afternoon, so he continued writing.

When another 45 minutes had passed, Donghyuck finally finished his essay. The essay was absolutely terrible, but at least he got to go home.

  
Donghyuck was ready to go to his locker and go home. But once he got there, so was Mark.

"I told you to leave. Why are you still here?" Donghyuck asked him, still agitated, but kind of touched to see that Mark actually waited for him.

"I said that I was going to wait for you. And so I did." Mark said, leaning against the lockers.

"You waited two hours for someone who told you they didn't want to go with you? You are crazy, Mark Lee."  
Mark chuckled.

"I sound like a stalker if you say it like that."

"You kind of are, not gonna lie." After hearing his remark, Mark hit Donghyuck on his arm.

"And even being violent, you are a psychopath in training," Donghyuck joked.

"Are you coming with me or not?" Mark said, hitting him again with a smile on his face.

"Only if you promise not to kill me in the forest, you psycho."

"Okay, I promise," Mark said, going a long with the joke.

"Now get away from my locker. I need to get my stuff."

  
Because the last schoolbus had already left, the two boys had to walk home. And since the shortest route was from school to their street was through the forest, that's where they went. _Because it's the shortest, not because Mark wanted it._

  
It was about a twenty-minute walk through the forest, but it ended up taking forty as Mark was completely enchanted by the forest.

"We literally were here yesterday. Please walk faster."

"But it's so nice! I won't be able to see everything if we walk faster," Mark pouted.

"Dude, fucking slugs are passing us. I think you'll see everything even if we go a little bit faster." And again, Donghyuck was annoyed. He was tired and hungry and Mark was just casually taking his time, admiring every single tree they passed with the same twinkles in his eyes as before.

Seeing that, Donghyuck eased up a bit.

"You really like the forest, don't you," Donghyuck said with a gentle tone.

"Yeah... I love it." Mark looked at Donghyuck with the biggest smile he had ever seen and he swore his heart skipped a beat.

_What just happened? Why did my heart just jump like that?_

"And it's really nice spending time with you. I know you might think I'm a bit annoying, but I'm really happy that I got to make new friends this fast. So thanks." Donghyuck felt his heart doing summersaults again.

"Yeah, you're really... annoying. Your welcome for my great friendship," Donghyuck said, trying to maintain himself and made Mark laugh. _Why does his laugh have to be so cute? Wait, no! It isn't cute at all! Get yourself together, Donghyuck._

  
When they finally got home, Donghyuck went straight to his room and laid down in his bed, face stuffed in his pillow. _Why do I feel this way around Mark?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading chapter 3! It's a bit short, but I hope you guys don't mind it too much. Please tell me your thoughts about it in the comments!


	4. The girl at the game

The following Monday Mark got to the busstop with his little brother and saw Jeno waiting there already.

"Yo, Jeno Lee!" Mark shouted as they walked up to Jeno.

"Mark Lee!" He yelled back and high fived him," and little Jisungie."

"I'm not little! I'm the tallest in my class!" Jisung complained and ignored Jeno's high five.

"Ouch... You just got rejected by a 14 year old, dude," Mark commented and at that exact moment the bus arrived.

"I turned 15 like a month ago!" Jeno laughed at the two brothers fighting as he stepped into the bus.

"I guess Donghyuck's late," Mark noticed and sat down next to Jeno.

"Wouldn't be the first time. Monday's aren't really his thing."

  
But when they got to school and the lesson started, there still wasn't any sign of Donghyuck.

"He's probably skipping the first lesson so he doesn't get punished by Ms. Gremlin again. You really don't want to be late in her class, trust me," Jaemin whispered to him. Mark looked out of the window and tried to identify Donghyuck among the people outside, but he couldn't find him.

  
The next class Donghyuck didn't show up either and Mark sat the entire Chemistry lesson by himself, wondering why Donghyuck wasn't there. A lot of different scenarios popped up in his head. _Maybe he was kidnapped when he went to the busstop? Or maybe he got hit by a car? Did something happen to him over the weekend?_

  
"I guess he's sick," Renjun stated during the break. _Well that would be the most probable option..._ Mark thought and mentally scolded himself for thinking that it would be likely that Donghyuck was kidnapped.

"Yeah, he would've shown up already if he was late," Jaemin added.

"It's kind of strange, though. He looked okay during the soccer match on Saturday," Jeno said as he shoved his sandwich into his mouth.

"Maybe someone infected him Saturday? There were a lot of people, it could've easily happened," Renjun speculated.

"Or maybe he made out with that girl that likes him. I think she was sick last week, because she wasn't constantly trying to get him to notice her. But I did see her talking to him after the game," Jaemin said. _What? There is a girl that likes Donghyuck?_

"No way! Donghyuck would never kiss her!" Renjun replied with a disgusted look on his face,"he doesn't like her at all. He's always complaining about how annoying she is."

"Maybe he's scared of his own feelings for her, and he doesn't want to show his true emotions," Jaemin clutched his heart as he dramatically stared into the distance.

"Yeah, and unicorns are flying over the school right now. Your imagination is way too big, dude," Jeno commented. It somehow still made Mark feel uneasy. _Why would I be so upset if he liked her back? I should be happy for him._

"So, who is this girl that likes Donghyuck?" Mark asked, wanting to find out more about this situation.

"We don't even know her name. All we know is that she just keeps staring at Donghyuck and tries to get his attention. It's super annoying," Jaemin sighed.

"Yeah, she and her friends get all giggly and stuff when he's around. And she's there every Saturday for our soccer matches. It has been going on for about a year now, you probably saw her at the game Saturday," Jeno added.

After hearing this Mark tried to remember the game. Friday Donghyuck had asked him to come and watch as he, Jeno and Jaemin were on the team. He sat next to Renjun and enjoyed the game from the bleachers. After their 3-0 victory, Mark remembered seeing a girl walk up to Donghyuck and they started talking. He didn't really think anything of it at the time. _Maybe Jaemin is right and Donghyuck does like her back. They did seem closer than friends from what I saw and it didn't look like Donghyuck was annoyed by her, in fact he seemed to enjoy her presence_. Mark felt uneasy thinking about it. _Does he like her too?_

  
As the day progressed Mark couldn't get the sight of Donghyuck and the girl out of his head. _Why am I so bothered by this? It probably wasn't even anything, just small talk. They were standing pretty close to each other, though. But that was probably because it was so crowded. Or Donghyuck wanted to be close to her... Stop it, Mark! I shouldn't be bothered by this. If he does like her back, I should be happy for him. He's my friend after all..._

  
It was Thursday already and Donghyuck still hadn't shown up. Mark really started to worry. _Maybe he really did get kidnapped? No way. What am I even thinking? My brain isn't functioning properly..._

And with all his worries Mark decided to visit Donghyuck after school and ask him about the girl.  
But when he reached his house he hesitated. _Maybe she was there already? Or maybe he doesn't want to see me? We haven't even known each other that long. He probably hates me._ Fighting away his doubts, he pressed the doorbell. _Oh, my god. Am I actually doing this?_

A few seconds after Mark pressed the bell, Donghyuck's mom opened the door.

"Hey, Mark! Are you coming for Donghyuck?"

"Hello, Miss Lee. Yes, I am. Is he sick?" Mark remembered her from the day she and Donghyuck came to visit them.

"Yes, he unfortunately got the flu. He's been having fevers all week. Why don't you go upstairs and say hi to him? I think that he'll be very happy to see his friends again."

  
Mark walked up the stairs and freaked out for a second as he didn't know where Donghyuck's room was, because he had never been in his house. But after inspecting every door, he thought the one saying "DONGHYUCK" in dark blue letters would probably be the one leading to his room.

Mark stopped in front of the door and inhaled deeply before laying his hand on the handle and pushing it down.

Mark walked into the room and saw Donghyuck in his bed staring at his phone before locking eyes with him.

"Mark?" Donghyuck said confused and sat up in his bed. Mark could now see his red, puffy face clearly.

"Yeah, hi..." Mark answered him awkwardly," are you alright?"

"Do I look alright to you?" Donghyuck asked sarcastically.

"You kind of look like you've been hit by a bus." Mark only had 0.1 second to dodge the pillow being thrown by Donghyuck.

"Thanks a lot. I'd rather have Renjun come and cheer me up, at least he won't insult me."

"At least I came to cheer you up!" Mark defended himself.

"No, you just came here. You're not cheering me up," Donghyuck responded matter-of-factly.

"Well I just wanted to know how you were doing and ask you something," he reluctantly said.

"You can see that I'm doing absolutely fantastic and I couldn't be doing better," Donghyuck answered. _He still has his sassy remarks, even when he's sick_ ," so what do you want to ask?"

Mark looked down and stared at his shoes mumbling a few "uhm"s before Donghyuck spoke up again.

"If you're gonna take forever to ask it, at least sit down."

Mark realised that he was still standing in the middle of the room and when he looked at Donghyuck he saw that he had withdrawn his feet to leave some space for him on the bed. He sat down and pointed his eyes up to Donghyuck's for a quick second before resting them on his own hands.

"Well, you know... Last Saturday..." Mark started off," I really enjoyed the game."

"Thanks," Donghyuck said with a shy smile. Mark really had to contain himself to not throw himself of a building. _Why am I so nervous?_

"And that girl you talked to after the game..." he continued, fidgeting with his fingers.

"What about her?"

"She likes you, right?" Mark struggled to get to words out of his mouth.

"Yeah..."

"You guys seemed pretty close." he said remembering the two together on the soccerfield.

"Yeah..."

While Mark was trying so hard to keep his face under control, Donghyuck's expressionless facade did not seem to change.

"Are you guys friends?"

"Not really."

"What were you talking about?"

"Well..."

"Well?"

"She confessed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back with a new chapter. This one is written from Mark's perspective and I'm thinking about switching perspectives every now and then. Would you guys like that? Anyways thanks for the kudos and have a great day!


	5. Thoughts under a starry ceiling

Mark left Donghyuck's house with a heavy heart. _How could I have been so stupid?_ He kicked a few leaves on the ground while walking to the door of his house. _It's not like he would ever like me anyway... And I don't even like him like that! But why do I keep feeling this way..._

Mark got to his room and laid down on his bed, his eyes staring at the glow in the dark stars that Jisung had stuck to his ceiling, "it will remind you of your old room, when you miss Canada," his little brother had told him.

Now more than ever Mark wanted to go back. He couldn't get what had happened at Donghyuck's house out of his mind.

  
After Donghyuck had said that she had confessed to him Mark couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"She confessed?" Mark repeated with a shocked expression on his face.

"Yeah, she said she'd liked me for a long time now and she wanted to become closer," Donghyuck said with the same emotionless look.

"And what did you say?" Mark felt his head spinning. _Please don't say that you accepted her confession, please..._

"I told her that we should go out sometime." And that's when Mark felt his heart break.

"Do you like her back?" Mark said, trying to sound not too pained by the boy's previous statement.

"Honestly, I don't know. I barely know anything about her." After hearing this Mark felt a bit better again, but his heart was still in pain.

"Then why did you say yes?"

"Why do you care? If I want to go out with someone, I can do that! I don't need your permission," Donghyuck snapped at him, changing his expression for the first time since Mark came to see him. But Mark didn't like this look, it was an agitated one.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that..." Mark apologized and felt his heart sink even deeper.

"Then why did you ask?" Donghyuck sounded even angrier," Are you jealous that someone likes me instead of you? That there is a girl that doesn't like Mr. Perfect, but his stupid friend? Get over yourself, Mark Lee."

Donghyuck's words stung. More painful than any bee or wasp. Mark wanted to tell him the real reason why he asked it, but he couldn't get it out of his throat. Instead he just looked at Donghyuck with with a hurt expression.

"I should go," Mark finally managed to say. He got up and walked out of the room, Donghyuck followed his moves with his eyes but didn't say a thing as the other boy left.

  
Mark closed his eyes. _I hate myself. And I hate Donghyuck. No, that's a lie. I don't hate him. But what do I feel for him? Do I actually like him? I can't... He's my friend. But I've never felt anything like this for a friend before. When my old friends got a girlfriend, I'd always been happy for them. Why can't I be happy for Donghyuck? I should be happy for him._

He opened his eyes again to the stars on his ceiling, his mind being somewhere else, with Donghyuck. _Why can't I just like him as a friend. That would make everything so much easier. I could say yes to one of the girls that confessed to me and we could go on double dates and have fun. I don't want to like him. Why can't I just like some girl at school? Why does it have to be him?_

And with those same thoughts Mark fell asleep at sunrise. He had skipped dinner, not feeling hungry because of his broken heart. Of course he didn't tell his mom that. He said he probably caught Donghyuck's flu and that he wasn't feeling well. That would prevent him from having to go to school tomorrow as well. He didn't want to see any of the guys, that girl or Donghyuck, if he was feeling better again.

  
He woke up again around noon with his head still full of Donghyuck. A part of him wanted to go up to Donghyuck's house and tell him everything that was on his mind, but another part told him that Donghyuck would either laugh or yell at him if he did that. So he decided to stay in his bed, torturing himself with his own thoughts.

But after a while he was sick of himself and thought that it would be better to clear his head and go to the forest.

  
Walking through the forest he felt a lot better. Everything felt so peaceful. He remembered walking through it with Donghyuck and talking with him about everything, from school to what would happen if aliens decided to kidnap them. Mark smiled at these memories. _Could we ever do that again?_

  
Having walked around for about an hour, Mark headed home again.

He looked through Donghyuck's window, trying to catch a glimpse of him when he passed his house. But he couldn't see him. And with a lowered head he returned to his own house.

  
That day Donghyuck felt worse than before, even worse than the day that he met Mark for the first time. Besides his body aching from the flu, his heart was also in pain. He was still laying in his bed, replaying what happened yesterday in his head. _Why is Mark making this so difficult? If he just didn't care, everything would be fine. But no, he had to show up at my house asking about Areum._ He sighed. _Doesn't he get that I'm trying to not like him? Why can't he just leave me alone?_

And at that moment Donghyuck got a notification on his phone. He grabbed it from his nightstand next to him and looked at the incoming message.

New message from:  
_**Little Marky the Psycho Forest Fairy**_ _  
Hey Donghyuck, you probably hate me rn but i wanted to say sorry... i shouldn't have asked all that stuff because you're right, you don't need my permission, you can decide for yourself. I just wanted you to know that. Sorry_

A small grin crept up to Donghyuck's face. _Why does he always have to be so nice?_ He dropped his phone on his chest and let out a deep sigh. _Why are you making this so hard for me, Mark Lee?_ Donghyuck felt his phone vibrate again before picking it up again.

New messages from:  
_**Little Marky the Psycho Forest Fairy**  
I just hope we can still be friends. But i understand if you dont want to_

_And hopefully you feel better already, having the flu sucks._  
  
Donghyuck felt like his heart was about to burst and squeeled into his blanket. _He's the sweetest thing ever, even when I'm mad at him. I hate him so much._

  
Mark was practically dying in his bed after he sent the messages. Every second seemed like an hour waiting for a text back. _Maybe he's ignoring me because he's mad at me? Oh god, I shouldn't have done this._ But a familiar sounding "ding" coming from his phone proved him otherwise.

New messages from:  
_**Hyuckie**  
Its okay dude, dont worry. Im sorry too... I shouldnt have yelled at you, that was really stupid of me. And of course we're still friends!_

_And no im not feeling better yet :( dont miss me too much at school~_

Mark almost dropped his phone in his face after reading the messages. _He isn't mad at me?_ He pushed his face into his pillow and giggled like a 10 year old school girl. After he came back to his senses, he laid back on his back, looking at the stars on the ceiling. Maybe he wasn't missing Canada that much after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. I was busy with school and i didnt have a lot of inspiration. But i've finally written a new chapter! Hopefully you liked it~ please tell me what you thought of it! Have a great day~


	6. The way you make me feel

"You guys don't have anything planned after the game this Saturday, right?" Renjun asked during the break, making the rest of the boys look up from their lunch.

"No, I don't think so. You want to do something afterwards?" Jeno got hit on the back of his head by Jaemin immediately after finishing his sentence.

"Dude, it's his birthday Saturday. Don't tell me you forgot." Jeno didn't answer Jaemin and quietly continued eating his sandwich with a guilty look on his face

"Oh my god, he forgot," Jaemin stated, his doe eyes getting even bigger than usual due to the shock.

"Well, wouldn't be the first time," Donghyuck commented," remember when he forgot my birthday?"

"That was like 4 years ago," Jeno tried to defend himself.

"It still hurts, you know."

"Oh my god, dude. Stop being such a drama queen already," Jeno rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Even I know it's his birthday Saturday," Mark joined in and got a betrayed look from Jeno, which only made the contented smile on Donghyuck's face grow bigger.

Renjun let out a small cough before speaking up again.

"So back to what I was saying, all of you guys can come over for a sleepover?" The four boys had this tradition for as long as they had been friends, which had been a long, long time. They'd always have a sleepover if it was someone's birthday (eventhough Jeno almost didn't get invited after he forgot Donghyuck's birthday that one time) and everytime they had even more fun than the last with some of the highlights being Jaemin almost accidentally burning down Jeno's house ("I swear that candle fell over by itself!" "Dude, your sock literally caught on fire because you kicked it when you tried to do a split after you made a pirouette.") and the police showing up at Donghyuck's house because their neighbours thought that someone was being murdered, while in reality it was just the boys doing karaoke.

"Ofcourse!" Jaemin exclaimed,"gotta keep our tradition alive."

"I don't know if my mom planned anything, so I need to ask her first," Mark said.

"Nawh, little Marky needs to ask his mommy first. How cute!" Donghyuck teased and pinched Mark's cheeks.

Mark felt his face heating up, but he didn't know if it was because he was embarrassed or because he was having skin-to-skin contact with the boy he had a crush on.

And Mark knew for sure that what he felt for Donghyuck was a crush now. A big, fat, heartmelting crush that made him feel all kinds of things. Even the tiniest grin on Donghyuck's face would make Mark want to give him all the happiness, joy, flowers and rainbows in the world and almost made him fall off his chair every time.

So actually having Donghyuck touch his face made Mark want to scream and jump out of a window, but he couldn't do that of course, so he tried to keep his cool and tried to surpress any squeels that might come out of his mouth. Okay, so maybe it was that fact that it was his crush touching him that made him feel all hot.

  
After school Mark immediately asked his mom if he could go to Renjun's party, after he survived the busride home by trying to not throw himself out of the bus, because Donghyuck was quietly singing along to the songs they listened to while sharing headphones with each other. _Damn, why does he have to be cute and good at singing?_

His mom luckily said yes and the boys spent the rest of their week looking forward to Saturday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took a bit long to update, i just didn't have a lot of inspiration so it's a bit short. I guess this is kind of a filler-chapter, but i hope you guys still enjoyed it anyways!


	7. Na Jaemin or the actual devil?

Saturday had arrived and Mark was ready to go to the soccer match. He had all his stuff for Renjun's sleepover packed in his backpack, his pyjamas, a toothbrush, some toothpaste, the charger of his phone and some freshly washed spare clothing that Jaemin told him to bring ("Why would I need spare clothing?" "You know, someone might get stabbed and get blood all over your clothes." "Dude. What the actual fuck. Why would someone get stabbed?" "Our sleepovers tend to get pretty wild past 1 am... Or you might get some ketchup on your shirt or something.").

Mark hoped that he didn't have to use his spare clothing. One of the reasons being that he didn't want to get stabbed or see someone getting stabbed, but the main reason was the fact that he had chosen his outfit very carefully in the hopes that Donghyuck would like it. He had picked out his nicest jeans, a loose-fitting black t-shirt, his favourite pair of sneakers and to bring it all together he put on the jacket Donghyuck told him looked good a while ago. If he was spending his entire day with Donghyuck he at least needed to look his best.

  
There were fifteen minutes left until the game started and both teams were doing their warming-up.

While running around the field doing various exercises, Donghyuck found his eyes constantly wandering to the bleachers with the hope that a certain someone would show up soon.

About five minutes later that person finally came and sat down next to Renjun, who had been sitting by himself for at least ten minutes now. Donghyuck felt the corners of his lips curl up when he finally saw the familiar figure. He saw him looking around the field, stopping when their eyes met. He waved and smiled at him, and Donghyuck did the same thing back.

However Donghyuck hadn't noticed that he had slowed down quite a bit and Jeno, also unaware of it, ran into him, causing them to collide and fall over.

"Ouch, why did you stop all of a sudden?" Jeno got up groaning and rubbed his knee, which got scraped because of the fall.

"Probably because he was busy admiring his lover," Donghyuck heard Jaemin say. He turned his head around and there he saw the brown-haired boy standing.

"My lover? What the hell are you talking about?"

"We both know who I'm talking about, Hyuckie," Jaemin said with a wink and ran off again.

"No, I don't know, Na Jaemin!" Donghyuck yelled at the back view of his friend. Jeno snickered next to him.

"Dude, instead of just standing there and laughing, help me get up." Donghyuck held out his arms and Jeno pulled him up. He took a quick glance at Mark, who was looking at him with a big smile on his face. _He's laughing at me because I fell. The nerve of that boy..._ Donghyuck sassily cocked his eyebrow up at him, making the other boy laugh even harder, before he and Jeno ran back to where the rest of the team was gathered.

  
The game was tough. Their opponent was a team from the other side of town and both teams were fixated on winning as the winner would go to the semi-finals.

This was the strongest Donghyuck had seen his team in years, all the players played together in perfect harmony and they hadn't lost a single match this season. And Donghyuck wasn't planning on losing the other ones, especially not since a special someone he wanted to impress was watching.

  
During half-time the score was 1-1 and the tension was high. Both teams were eager to win and a handful of yellow cards had been handed out to each team.

After a powerful speech of the coach the whistle blowed and the team was determined more than ever to win.

Ten minutes in to the second half Jeno scored their second goal and they felt victory coming a step closer. Their joy was short lived however as the other team scored as well a few moments later.

  
With only three minutes left on the clock Donghyuck got the ball and sprinted towards the goal. He was about to shoot when someone from the other team ran up to him and kicked the ball away from him and with that his ankle as well. Donghyuck fell to the ground, pain shooting through his ankle.

The referee blowed his whistle and gave the boy a red card and Donghyuck got a penalty.

Now he was standing in front of the goal with the ball in front of his feet. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He swung his foot backwards and kicked the ball as hard as he could.

And then he heard everyone cheer. His entire team ran up to him and gave him a group hug, while yelling and singing. The game was over, Donghyuck had scored and they made it to the semi-finals!

  
"Congratulations on winning, guys! You did great!" Renjun greeted them with enthusiasm when they got back from the changing rooms.

"Yeah, you guys were awesome!" Mark added.

"We wouldn't have won if it wasn't for Donghyuck's amazing goal," Jaemin said as he put his arm around Donghyuck, but keeping his eyes on Mark with that signature gummy smile of his. _Great_ , Donghyuck thought as he got what Jaemin was doing, _he's trying to get us together._ He was thinking about elbowing the smiling boy in the stomach, but when he heard Mark's voice his mind went somewhere else.

"Yeah, that was great, Donghyuck!"

"Well, of course. It's me we're talking about here." Donghyuck tried to play it cool on the outside, but on the inside he was screaming in joy.

"When Donghyuck's done being full of himself," Renjun started off, looking at Donghyuck who replied with sticking out his tongue,"we should head over to my house."

"If Jeno didn't forget about it," Donghyuck commented.

"Oh, my god. I didn't forget about it this time. Just let go about what happened four years ago!" Jeno rolled his eyes so hard, he thought he could almost see his brain.

"It's still fresh in my memory. The sorrow, the pain." Donghyuck clutched his heart.

"If you don't shut up right now, I will punch you in the face."

"Fight me, bitch."

"Let's just go!" Renjun interupted with much annoyance in his voice.  
And off they went.

  
During their walk to Renjun's, Jaemin had strategically linked his arms with Jeno on his left side and Renjun on his right so that Mark and Donghyuck had to walk together behind them. Donghyuck had to contain himself to not tackle him to the ground when Jaemin looked back over his shoulder at him with an all-knowing smile.

"You asshole," Donghyuck mumbled under his breath.

"What did you say?" Mark asked him.

"Nothing," Donghyuck looked up at Mark for a second and stared back at his feet again.

"Oh, okay. I must've misheard it."

"Yeah, probably."

Donghyuck was so busy trying not to make eye contact with Mark and blush that he almost passed Renjun's house, but he walked into Jeno just in time before embarrassing himself even more.

"What is up with you and walking into me today?" Jeno looked at him half confused, half smiling.

"First of all, you walked into me the first time. And secondly, it just means that you're in the way."

"In the way of what? The other side of the street? You know Renjun lives here, right?"

"Oh, shut up. I know he lives here. I just wasn't paying attention." Donghyuck followed Renjun as he opened the door, and they stepped into the hallway.

"Yeah, our Donghyuck has something, or should I say someone on his mind at the moment." Donghyuck looked next to him and saw Jaemin standing there all of a sudden. _It's like that boy appears out of thin air, what the hell?_

"Go fuck yourself, dude," Donghyuck said while taking of his shoes, fidgeting with his laces in pure annoyence.

"You know I'm right," Jaemin whispered with a smug smile and glanced in Mark's direction, who was walking up the stairs behind Renjun and Jeno,"you must be blind or something to not see that you're head over heels for that guy."

"I'm not head over heels for him! I'm not head over heels for anyone. Your imagination is getting the best of you again, my friend," Donghyuck whisper-yelled back at him while putting his foot on the first step of the stairs.

"Yeah, right. I guess you really are that stupid." Donghyuck pretended not to hear that last remark and continued walking upstairs, with Jaemin following right after him, still with that same smile plastered on his face.

  
"Okay, the program for today goes as follows," Renjun started off as all five boys were squished together on Renjun's bed, Jaemin had of course pushed Donghyuck next to Mark and Donghyuck swore he would kill him someday," first we will get the matresses, blankets and pillows from the attic, then we will play some games until it's time for dinner, I was thinking about ordering some pizzas. And after that we can light the fire pit in the backyard and watch some horror movies. And I guess by then my parents will get home as well."

"Sounds like a solid plan," Mark said, quite impressed by the fact that there was actually a plan.

"Well then, let's go to the attic!" Jaemin exclaimed. _How he can always be so energetic is a mystery to me_ , Donghyuck thought as he got up from the bed,  _I will definitely kill him one day_.

  
When they had gotten (read: thrown) the stuff to Renjun's room, they came to the realisation that there were only four matresses in total, the one from Renjun's bed and three spare ones from the attic.

"I guess two people have to share," Jaemin suggested, smiling at Donghyuck and Mark.

"I'm not sharing anything with anyone," Donghyuck responded.

"We'll see about that." Donghyuck swore that was the most evil grin he had ever seen, he almost got goosebumps from looking at Jaemin's face. _He's like the devil himself..._

  
"Dude, I swear to god. If you cut me off one more time I will cut off your ears." Game time had started and the boys were all huddled up together on the couch playing a deadly game of Mario Kart.

"Well maybe if you could actually pass me for once, Donghyuck, I wouldn't have to cut you off," Jaemin replied while watching his Toad race across the screen in first place.

"Dickhead..." He tried to pass Jaemin again but he got hit by a red shell from behind.

"Yes! Good job, Mark!" Jeno yelled as he, Mark and Renjun all passed Donghyuck and finished, making Donghyuck come in last.

"Whatever, screw this game and screw you guys."

"Come on, Hyuckie. Don't be such a sore loser." Renjun hit his shoulder.

"Yeah, it's just a game," Mark added.

"I want a rematch."

"I thought you hated this game like a second ago," Jeno remarked.

"Well I changed my mind. And I will beat you all," Donghyuck answered and started up a new round.

  
After three rematches Donghyuck finally won and they decided that should probably stop playing, before some people (read: Donghyuck and Jaemin) would actually start a fist fight.

It was already seven o'clock and the boys were starving, so they ordered some pizzas and waited eagerly for them to arrive.

Donghyuck was laying flat out on the floor in front of the sofa.

"How long is it gonna take, I'm actually dying over here." Renjun threw a pillow from the sofa at his head.

"We literally called five minutes ago."

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm dying."

"Why are we still friends with you?"  
Jeno asked and shook his head.

"Because I'm amazing and you love me." He got bombarded with all the pillows from the couch and almost a lamp as well.

"Well someone loves you..." Jaemin quietly spoke, just hard enough for Donghyuck to hear. And apparently also hard enough for the rest.

"Someone loves him?" Jeno asked confused.

"Oh, why don't you tell us, Donghyuck?" The evil smile crept up on Jaemin's face again. Donghyuck looked at Renjun and Mark and they looked just as confused as Jeno.

"Wait, is this about Areum?" Mark looked back at Donghyuck, still with the same baffled expression.

"Who is Areum?" Renjun asked.

"Areum is that girl that likes me, but I don't like her back, as you all know."

"You don't?" Donghyuck saw Mark's eyes light up and he felt butterflies coming up in his stomach.

"I thought you were gonna go out with her?" Mark continued.

"Why would Donghyuck ever go out with her?" Jeno said, still as puzzled as before.

"No, I told her that I wasn't interested in her and that we shouldn't go out." Donghyuck felt embarrased, he hadn't talked about Areum with Mark ever since that day and he hadn't said anything about what happened to the other guys, who were all still very shocked by the conversation.

"You actually talked to her?" Renjun spoke up again.

"Yeah, she confessed a few weeks ago, but I turned her down. End of story. Let's move on." Donghyuck wasn't going to tell them the full story and how he and Mark got in a fight over it, that would only fuel Jaemin's matchmaking fire. And he just didn't feel like talking about it now.

Luckily he was saved by the doorbell as the delivery guy had finally arrived with five delicious pizzas.

  
After a few slices too much the boys we're almost exploding from eating too much, but they still found a way to squeeze in some marshmellows that they roasted above the fire pit in the garden. They sat in the garden chairs with a couple of blankets draped over their bodies to protect them from the chilly night breeze.

Donghyuck looked over to his side to Mark and inspected every single detail of his face and how the light of the flames danced across it. There was a bit of marshmellow stuck above his lip, but that didn't make the sight any less breathtaking for Donghyuck. He softly chuckled at how cute the other boy looked.  
Mark noticed him and smiled.

"What are you laughing at?"

"How dumb you look with marshmellow all over your face."

Mark playfully shoved him and rubbed his hands over his face to get it off.

"Is it gone now?" Donghyuck looked at Mark face and stared into his eyes, getting lost in the swaying fire reflected in his eyes.

"Uhm, yes," Donghyuck said, still maintaining eye contact and still feeling entranced by it. If it wasn't for the other guys being here, he probably would've kissed him, right there and then. But when he heard the other guys yelling and screaming while getting marshmellow out of Jeno's hair, Donghyuck snapped out of the spell that Mark had put on him. _What if Jaemin saw that? He's so gonna use that against me if he saw it_. And oh, he saw.

"Renjun, Jeno, why don't we go inside and prepare the movie, snacks and drinks? And try to get this stuff out of Jeno's hair."

"Oh, we can help too," Mark offered.

"No, you and Donghyuck can stay here. We'll be fine with just the three of us. We'll call you when we're ready," Jaemin told him and smiled before heading inside with Renjun and Jeno. _That son of a bitch..._

"So... You did turn her down?" Mark spoke up after a minute of silence.

"Yeah, I texted her the day after you came over. I don't know why I even said yes in the first place. I was probably just tired from the game," Donghyuck lied. He knew exactly why he said yes. To get Mark out of his head. But he wasn't going to tell him that.

"I'm glad you turned her down, though."

"Why? Were you afraid that she was gonna steal me away from you?" Donghyuck teased him.

"No..." Mark said softly and looked down at his hands. _Was he actually embarrassed? Oh, my god, yes. He's actually blushing. Holy crap._ Donghyuck had to remain calm and playfully shoved Mark to cover up the fact that he was starting to get red himself too.

"If it makes you feel any better, I would choose you over her any day." _Why did I say that? That's literally one of the worst things I have ever said._ But when Mark softly smiled at him and their eyes locked again, his thoughts faded away.

"Thanks." Their faces kept getting closer and Donghyuck had the greatest urge to just smash their lips together, but he knew that Jaemin probably told Renjun and Jeno and that they were most likely following the scene from the kitchen window at this moment.

So Donghyuck averted his gaze back to the flames, missing out on the disappointed look on Mark's face.

  
And what a surprise, at that moment Jaemin appeared in the doorway and told them to come inside again. Donghyuck gave Jaemin a nasty look when he passed him, which Jaemin returned with his gummy smile.

And as they hadn't eaten enough already, the floor in front of the sofa was covered with bowls filled with all kinds of snacks: chips, chocolate, gummy worms, you name it and it was there.

"I'm gonna die from diabetes when I leave tomorrow," Donghyuck commented.

"I'm gonna die of it tonight," Mark said.

  
They had started the movie and were pressed against each other, both out of fear and lack of space. Renjun was covering his eyes with a pillow for 75% of the movie, Jaemin's face was buried into Jeno's shoulder, who's eyes were barely visable peaking out of the blanket, and Donghyuck had grabbed Mark's hand under the blanket at the first jumpscare and hadn't let go ever since. Not that Mark minded it.

A lot of popcorn and other snacks had spilled over the floor as a handful of them were accidentally thrown into the air each time one of them jumped up from being scared. Donghyuck even threw an entire bowl of chips at the screen after a ghost had scared him so badly that he needed to vent out his anger by throwing it, together with a whole bunch of different and creative swear words.

  
When the movie had ended it was around midnight and they decided to head upstairs before Renjun's parents would come home and give them a big rant on how messy the living room looked, and messy was an understatement.

And Jaemin got his way after all, Donghyuck and Mark had to share a matress. Now Donghyuck was 200% certain that Jaemin had told Jeno and Renjun about his plan to get them together, otherwise they wouldn't have literally pushed and kicked them off the matresses to get one for themselves.

It was 2 am now and the boys were slowly drifting away into their dreams. Except for Donghyuck. How could he fall asleep when Mark's warm body was pressed against his? Donghyuck felt his heartbeat going crazy and he was pretty sure that Mark could feel it too.

Donghyuck was laying on his back while Mark was on his side, facing him. Faces so close that Donghyuck felt Mark's breath in his neck.

"Donghyuck?" Donghyuck heard a low whisper in his ear.

"Yeah?" He whispered back to the boy next to him and shifted his body so that he was on his side too, facing him.

He felt Mark move under the blankets, followed by two soft lips on his forehead.

"Goodnight," Mark softly whispered and turned around, leaving Donghyuck's heartbeat behind even crazier than it was before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back with a new chapter~ and it's a lot longer than the last one as I promised. I hope you enjoyed it! Please tell me what you think of the story so far and have a great day


	8. Midnight talks and forgotten keys

Donghyuck looked over at the alarm clock on Renjun's nightstand that was only just visable from where he was lying. 4.33 am. He had been trying to fall asleep for about three hours now, but having Mark next to him wasn't really helping.

Donghyuck quietly got up and tiptoed towards door, trying to not wake up the other boys who were all sound asleep. Once he had savely gotten out of Renjun's bedroom, he made his way to the bathroom at the other end of the hallway.

  
He switched on the light and looked at himself in the mirror. _What is wrong with me? Why can't I just fall asleep like I always do at our sleepovers? This is all Mark's fault. Mark with his stupid laugh and his dumb face. Why did he have to kiss me? That was totally uncalled for. Why does he have to make me feel this way? What do I even feel? Do I actually like him? No way. I'm not going to listen what Jaemin told me. I don't like him._

He turned on the tap and splashed some water in his face to come back to his senses. _It's just because he's new and I'm not that comfortable with him yet. Yeah, that's probably it! I just need to give it some time and all these feelings will drift away._

He went over to the bathtub and sat down on the edge. He stayed there for a good ten minutes, drowning in his own thoughts until he heard a soft knock on the door.

"Donghyuck, are you okay?" he heard Mark's soft voice filling up the silent air.

"Yeah, I just feel a bit sick from all the food," Donghyuck lied, in reality felt sick and anxious from what he was feeling.

"Oh, okay. Can I come in?" Donghyuck's heart felt like a ticking timebomb in his chest again. _No, you cannot._

"You should just go back to sleep, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I'm worried about you. You were burning up next to me a while ago." Donghyuck could still make out the concern in his quiet voice, even if he talked very softly.

The door handle moved and Mark's figure appeared in the doorway. Donghyuck thought about jumping into the bathtub for a split second but he didn't, because that would probably just look very stupid.

Mark kept getting closer and closer until they were only inches apart and he put his hand on Donghyuck's forehead, right where he had kissed him a few hours ago.

"You're on fire, dude. I think you're getting sick again," Mark told him and immediately walked over to the cabinets, pulled open a few of them, got the washcloth he was looking for and put it under the tap until it was completely soaked. Then he walked back over to Donghyuck and put it on his forehead.

"I told you I was okay," Donghyuck said with a small voice, avoiding as much eye contact as possible.

"Clearly you are not, so stop saying you are," Mark replied, still holding the cold washcloth against Donghyuck's hot skin. Donghyuck grabbed the washcloth, their fingers slightly grazing, and he looked him in the eye.

"I really am, Mark."

Mark yanked it back from his hand and pressed it to his forehead again.

"Why do you always have to be so stubborn?" he gently chuckled. _Why do you always have to be so goddamn cute?_

"I'm not stubborn."

"Oh, you are. Trust me."

"Shut up."

"No, you shut up."

Donghyuck snickered.

"Idiot."

"You're the idiot here. Saying you're fine when I could literally burn myself touching you."

"I already know I'm hot, you don't have to tell me." Mark lifted the cloth of Donghyuck's forehead and threw it in his face.

"You're so stupid," Mark quietly giggled and pressed the cloth back again.

"You're the one who is abusing the sick one here. Your inner psycho is showing again."

"Why do you keep calling me a psycho?"

"Because you are a psycho."

"Screw you." Mark's little giggles were the most adorable thing Donghyuck had ever heard and it wasn't making his face less hot either. _He's such a loser..._

They stayed still in silence for a while. Donghyuck sitting on the edge of the bathtub and Mark standing in front of him, holding the damp cloth against Donghyuck's head.

"You can sit down, you know. And I can hold it myself." Donghyuck broke the silence.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Mark sat down next to him and handed over the cloth.

"You know," Mark said,"I had a lot of fun today."

"Me too."

"I really like hanging out with you."

"Me too."

"You're not still mad at me, right? For what happened at your house last time."

"No, of course not. That was already weeks ago. And it was my fault, I was being a dick."

"I shouldn't have asked you all that stuff, so it's my fault too."

"Well, we're friends, aren't we? So you have the right to ask me anything."

"Anything?"

"Yeah, anything."

"Do you... Do you perhaps like anyone?" Donghyuck looked up at Mark, lowkey shocked at his question.

"Where did that question come from?"

"You said I could ask you anything," Mark pouted,"and Jaemin was kind of hinting at it earlier and I don't think that he meant Areum."

"I didn't mean go and ask me random stuff at 5 in the morning. And Jaemin just needs to shut up."

"But I have the right to ask, you just said so."

"Let's go back to sleep, you're being too annoying for me to handle right now," Donghyuck sighed and got up from the bathtub.

  
The whole situation with Mark had made him very tired, so he fell asleep pretty quickly after they got back to Renjun's room. But a few hours later he was already awoken by the other boys, who were talking to each other about all kind of things.

"Donghyuckie~ Wake up!" Jaemin sang into his ear before taking a free fall on Donghyuck's still half-asleep body.

"Dude, what the actual hell?" Donghyuck groaned and tried to push Jaemin off of him, but his body was still in sleeping mode and couldn't gather enough strength, so Jaemin kept lying on top of him with a smile on his face.

"Get off of me!"

"No," Jaemin said, stretching his limbs,"it's too comfortable."

"You are breaking my fucking ribs."

"And that's my problem because...?"

"I'm so gonna kill you when I get up."

  
When Donghyuck could finally get up, and Renjun had to stop him from breaking Jaemin's arms, they got ready to go home again. The party had been a lot of fun, but they didn't want to risk running in to Renjun's parents and hear them scream at his face because of the mess they had made. So they quickly cleaned up most of the mess and left shortly after that.

  
Mark had gotten home after walking there with Donghyuck. He couldn't find the courage the ask him his question from that night and it was slowly eating him up inside. _What if he likes someone? I'm so stupid, why would I ever think that he likes me back?_

Mark walked through the front door to find his little brother and his friend Chenle playing video games on the couch.

"Hey, guys."

"Hey," Jisung said with his eyes fixated on the screen, not even glancing over at Mark

"Mark Leeeee," Chenle greeted him back enthusiastically, making Mark grin. _That boy is always so lively._

"Where are mom and dad?"

"They went somewhere to do some stuff."

"Wow, thanks for the information. Hadn't figured that out myself," Mark commented and he walked over to the stairs to go upstairs and lie on his bed in shame and paining himself with his thoughts about Donghyuck. But before he could set a foot and the first step he heard the doorbell ring.

  
"Donghyuck?" Mark asked in confusion, seeing him standing in front of his door.

"Uhm, yeah, hi again. I kind of forgot my keys and my parents aren't coming home until tomorrow... So could I like, stay here for a while?"

"Yeah, sure. Come in," Mark told him and took a step aside to let the other boy in,"I was about to go upstairs, so let's go there."

"Yeah, okay," Donghyuck responded and followed him.

  
This time Mark's room was a lot cleaner than last time Donghyuck had seen it and Mark couldn't be happier for the Donghyuck's timing as he had put away most of the boxes a few days ago.

Mark sat down on his bed and Donghyuck took place in his desk chair.

"So are you feeling better already?" Mark remembered the fever Donghyuck had last night again.

"Kinda, yeah," Donghyuck replied, looking down at the floor.

"Are you sure? You look kind of out of it at the moment."

"I'm just a bit tired, that's all." Mark stood up and walked over to Donghyuck. He put his right hand on his forehead, just like he had done in the bathroom that night.

"You still feel quite warm," he noted.

"I'm not sick." Mark looked Donghyuck in the eyes before the latter looked back at the floor again.

"Then what's wrong? You can tell me anything. That's what friends are for, right?" Mark felt his heart ache a little when he said the word "friend". He wanted to be so much more to Donghyuck, but Donghyuck probably wouldn't feel the same way.

"It's stupid. You don't even want to know," Donghyuck said with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"I do. I'm worried. Is it about Areum?"

"No. It's just... I don't know... It's," Donghyuck stuttered. Mark sat down again on the end of the bed right in front of Donghyuck and grabbed his hand. It was really soft and warm, just as he had imagined it to be and better. Mark felt blood rushing up to his cheeks but ignored it. _This is not the time to be embarrassed, Mark. Something's wrong with him._

But Mark saw that he wasn't the only one that was blushing. When he saw Donghyuck's red face he just wanted to squeeze his little cheeks and kiss his face.

Donghyuck pulled back his hand and spoke up again.

"Shouldn't you tell your parents or something that I'm staying over?" he suddenly changed the subject.

"They're not at home right now. I'll tell them when they get back."

"Okay." And an awkward silence fell over the two boys.

"Do you want to play some videogames with my brother and his friend downstairs?" Mark asked after a while.

"Yeah, okay." Donghyuck answered and downstairs they went.

  
Chenle and Donghyuck seemed to get a long pretty well. Both were very loud and screaming about 80% of the time while playing Super Smash Bros. Mark had been kicked off the platform first, followed by Jisung shortly after. Now it was only left between Donghyuck's Kirby and Chenle's Pikachu.

Mark looked over at Donghyuck and saw the eagerness on his face to win. Mark swore it was one of the cutest things he had ever seen.

"Mark, let's get some drinks and snacks," his little brother told him all of a sudden.

"Sure." They got up and walked over to the kitchen.

"You like him, don't you," Jisung said while getting a bottle of soda out of the fridge.

"What are you talking about?" Mark played dumb.

"Oh, stop acting like you don't. You're super in love with him. You keep staring at him with hearts in your eyes."

"Don't talk so loud, he might hear us."

"So, you are admitting that I'm right."

Mark sighed and leaned with his back against the counter.

"Is this why you wanted me to come to the kitchen with you? To make up some evil plan or something?"

"I just want what's best for my big brother," Jisung said with an innocent smile and Mark glared back at him.

"I'll figure it out myself, it's just a stupid crush."

"Yeah, right." Jisung rolled his eyes and went back to pouring the soda.

  
The rest of the day consisted out of playing more video games and dinner. By the time it was ten both boys were exhausted. Mark was mostly exhausted from stopping Jisung from running his mouth to Donghyuck about his crush on him. He had to physically force him not to at least four times.

They were getting ready for bed and after Mark had given Donghyuck some of his clothes to sleep in and a toothbrush, Donghyuck disappeared into the bathroom. A while later he returned and Mark almost fainted seeing Donghyuck. The shirt was too big for him and Mark wanted to cuddle him until he couldn't breath, that's how adorable he looked.

"Do you mind sharing a bed again? We don't have any spare matresses yet as we just moved in." Mark asked, trying to not freak out too much.

"I guess it's my only choice," Donghyuck said and they got into the bed.

  
_He fell asleep already_ , Mark thought and put his arm on Donghyuck's waist. He would've never done that if the other boy was awake, but once he was asleep Mark got the courage to do so. He felt Donghyuck shifting under the blankets and nuzzling his face into Mark's chest. Mark pulled him closer and put his hand through the boy's hair. He hoped that Donghyuck wasn't going to wake up from his out of control heart.

"Mark?" he heard Donghyuck's small voice say into his chest and almost got a heartattack. _He's awake?_

"Yeah?" Mark tried to not let his voice tremble too much. _I'm so screwed right now, he's gonna hate me for having done this._

"Thanks for me letting me stay the night," Donghyuck said to Mark's surprise and he calmed down again.

"No problem," Mark responded and continued stroking Donghyuck's brown locks until he felt him doze off again in his arms. He pressed a soft kiss against the crown of his head.

"Goodnight, Hyuckie," Mark whispered and closed his eyes as well.

"Goodnight, Mark."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I won't be able to upload for at least a week so I hope you guys can live with that. Hopefully this chapter is enough for the time being.


	9. Yin and Yang

The next day at school the boys pretended like nothing had happened that night. But everytime Mark laid his eyes upon Donghyuck his cheeks got red and his lips began to smile.

Eventhough Donghyuck hadn't said a thing about the fact that they had laid in each other's arms until sunrise, Mark couldn't stop thinking about how warm it had felt and how madly he was in love with his friend. It wasn't just a crush anymore now, he really was in love with Donghyuck. _If only he felt the same way about me..._

  
All he could think about was Donghyuck. How his smile outshined the sun, how his voice made angels sounds like tone deaf crows, how warm his beautiful skin felt and how his eyes twinkled when he talked about the stuff that he liked.

And after a week Mark couldn't take it anymore. It seemed like Donghyuck was totally unaffected by it. But everytime they made eye contact with one another Donghyuck gave him the most heartwarming little smile and it was driving Mark crazy. He didn't know what to do or what to think. _Does he like me? No, he would've said something about it. He would never like me. But then why does he keep smiling at me like that? Is it because he likes me back? Or maybe it's because he knows that I like him, but he doesn't feel the same way and_ _he doesn't want to hurt my feelings..._

"Dude, you're gonna make your brain explode if you keep pondering like that." Mark got startled from the voice and found Jaemin sitting next to him.

"Oh, my god. You scared the living hell out of me. How long have you been sitting there?"

"About a minute. You were thinking about Donghyuck, right?" _Crap, does he know that I like him? Am I that obvious?_

"N-no. Why would I be thinking about him?" Mark stuttered.

"The fact that you stuttered proves that to be a lie. But don't worry about it. It's not very hard to tell that you like him."

"I don't like him..."

"Come on, Mark. Stop lying. It's so obvious that you have a crush on him. Why do you think I keep helping you?"

"Helping me?"

"Oh, my god. Are you really that dense?" Jaemin sighed,"I told you all the great stuff Donghyuck has done, I made sure that you guys were lab partners in Chemistry, I made you walk together when we went to Renjun's house and I made you sleep on the same matress. If that isn't helping you out, I don't know what is." All of a sudden everything clicked in Mark's head.

"Wow, you're right. Thank you so much!" Mark looked like a kid that had just gotten the biggest lollipop when he realised all the things that wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for Jaemin's help.

"So you admit that you like him?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Mark scratched the back of his head and shot a shy smile at the table.

"You should confess to him."

"What? No! Are you crazy?"

"I've reached my match-making limit, Mark. I can't really help you any further. You guys are super close right now."

"That's the thing... I don't want to ruin our friendship." Mark felt sad thinking about being rejected and losing his friend. He'd rather keep this one sided love than lose his friendship with Donghyuck forever.

"It won't. If he says no, you'll continue like you were before and if he says yes, you'll be together."

"He will never say yes, though."

Jaemin grabbed Mark's shoulders and stared him in the eyes.

"Stop being such a fucking coward and confess. I've put so much time and effort into making you do stuff together, there's no way that it'll fail. You guys are amazing together. Like Yin and Yang, you are very different, but some parts are exactly the same and you fit together perfectly. Just go up to him after school and tell him how you feel. Even if he says no, which I doubt he will, it won't ruin your friendship."

  
And so he did. After their last period Mark walked up to Donghyuck and asked him to walk home with him through the forest, making up an excuse and saying he wanted to that because they hadn't been there for a long time.

While walking through the forest Mark's heart kept doing all kinds of gymnastics. He was gonna spill his heart out and he had never been more afraid. Every step they took he felt himself getting one step closer to confessing.

  
"Donghyuck?" Mark suddenly stopped walking.

"Yeah?" Donghyuck stopped as well and looked at him. _Mark_   _looks so nervous..._

"I... Uhm... I-God, I can't..." Mark mumbled. _What's going on with him?_

"Are you okay?" Donghyuck asked," do you want to sit down or something? You don't look very well."

Sweat was running down Mark's forehead and his face had gotten pale. It looked like he was having a difficult time breathing and keeping his balance.

"No, I-I'm okay," Mark reassured him.

"Sit down, Mark." Donghyuck laid his hands on Mark's shoulders and softly pushed him down to sit on a tree stump. Then he raised his hand and put it up to Mark's forehead.

"Fuck, your skin is like a thousand degrees." Donghyuck put his backpack on the ground, zipped it open and got a bottle of water and a pack of tissues out of it. He took a tissue out of the pack and drenched it with water. He went back to Mark and put it against his head, giving the rest of the water to Mark for him to drink.

"Does this feel better?" He felt Mark relaxing slightly.

"Yeah," Mark replied and inhaled deeply,"I guess our roles have switched now."

Donghyuck giggled softly.

"Yeah, now you're the sick one and I get to throw washcloths in your face."

"Does that mean that you're the psycho now?"

"No, that's still you. Marky the psycho forest fairy."

"You're so dumb."

"You're stupid."

"You are such an idiot."

"Beats being a psycho."

"Oh, bite me."

They spent their time there a little longer, joking around until Mark felt better and they continued their journey home.

  
As they reached their street Donghyuck stopped one final time.

"What did you want to say to me earlier?"

"Huh?"

"You know, when you freaked out and got a fever all of a sudden."

"Oh, nothing important probably. I already forgot."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it was nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Oh, okay."

  
Donghyuck couldn't help but feel dissapointed by Mark's answer. Somewhere inside of him he had hoped that Mark would've told him that he liked him. _But that's just stupid... Mark doesn't like me. This is just a stupid crush. I'm making up things that are impossible. He probably didn't even kiss my head that night. It was probably just an accident or something. And his arm around me must've been that as well. We were both tired and people do weird stuff when they're tired. I shouldn't think too much of it._

  
Mark had crawled into his bed in shame and embarrassment. _Why couldn't I tell him about my feelings for him? Why did I freak out like that?_

Mark sighed and closed his eyes, wishing for the day to be over, when he heard his phone buzzing from his nightstand

New message from:   
_**Jaeminzzz**  
Hey dude! How did it go? Pls tell me you told him._

That was exactly what he didn't need at the moment. _Jaemin might be even more disappointed than I am when I tell him..._

New message to:   
_**Jaeminzzz**  
No, sorry... I completely freaked out and I couldnt get the words out of my mouth_

He put his phone down again and after a few seconds his phone started buzzing like crazy from Jaemin's furious spam. After what seemed like twenty messages the noise stopped and Mark cautiously checked his phone again.

New messages from:   
_**Jaeminzzz**  
Dude_

_Are_

_You_

_Fucking_

_Kidding_

_Me_

_WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FREAKED OUT???_

_YOU COULD'VE JUST SAID THAT YOU LIKED HIM_

_ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT_

_I really cant with you right now_

_Im pissed off_

_Get it together dude, if you dont tell him by monday, i will_

  
That last message scared Mark more than anything. It was Friday now, so he had two days left. He didn't want Jaemin to handle this. _Who knows what he might say? And who knows how Donghyuck will react? No, I have to this myself_. And with that mindset Mark fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm finally back. I'm sorry it took such a long time but I just didn't have time to write. So please enjoy this new chapter and the next one will be up a lot quicker than it took to upload this one.


	10. Stargazing in your eyes

Mark groaned as he woke up from the bright sunlight lighting up his room through the curtains. He heard the birds singing peacefully outside of his window, but he himself was far from peaceful. He had to go to the soccer game today, which meant seeing both Donghyuck and Jaemin. And it was either going to end up really good or really bad.

Today was the final match of the soccer competition and Mark arrived about fifteen minutes before it started. He saw that Renjun had saved him a spot and made his way over to him.

After exchanging their greetings Mark immediately searched the field for Donghyuck and found him running across the field with his fellow teammates for the warming up.

When he laid his eyes upon the boy a wave of anxiety washed over him. He was going to confess today after the game. There was a meteorshower that night and Mark wanted to take him to the forest to go see it and tell him how he feels and hopefully not get rejected. Mark didn't know what he was going to do if that were to happen, he could probably never look Donghyuck in the eye again, let alone be friends with him! _I'm so screwed if he says no..._

"So, are you planning on confessing today?" Renjun suddenly asked.

"What?," Mark was baffled, _how does he know about this?_

"Jaemin told me that you have to confess this weekend or he will tell Donghyuck."

"Of course Jaemin did," Mark should have seen it coming, Jaemin wasn't exactly very fond of keeping his plans for himself.

"So are you going to do it?" Renjun repeated.

"I guess so..."

"That's not an answer. You have to be confident about it. You will confess to him," Renjun said determined.

"Okay," Mark gattered the courage to say it," I will confess to him."

"Today," Renjun added.

"Today."

  
It was half time and Mark was absolutely dying. For starters, the time to confess kept creeping closer and the team was losing with 2-1. Both teams were about equally strong, but the team's defense was not as strong as it was in prior games. _Hopefully they step it up for the final half, or else they'll get wiped out._

But the team picked it up again and Jaemin scored with about twenty minutes left, making it 2-2.

The rest of the game however, didn't go as smoothly. Both teams were struggling to get through each other's defenses and no one was able to score any points. Even though Mark saw Donghyuck trying really hard and almost scoring a few times, only to miss or get intercepted by the goalkeeper.

So it came down to penalties. With five tries for each team. In the first two tries to opposing team had scored once and while they missed both times.  
  
Then it was Jeno's turn. He kicked the ball as hard as he could and the ball flew right past the keeper, into the net.

But sadly the opposing team also scored so both Jaemin and Donghyuck had to score to win, if the other team didn't get anymore goals.

Jaemin was up first and easily scored, making it a draw again.

The opposing team missed and now all their faith was in Donghyuck. If he scored they would be champion, as long as the final person didn't.

Donghyuck grabbed the ball and put it in front of his feet and without a thought he kicked it in the air. The goal keeper jumped to catch it, but missed. Screams everywhere. They were almost champion!

Now it was the final person's turn. Most of the team members, including Donghyuck, Jaemin and Jeno were sitting down on their knees, feeling the most tense they had ever been, praying that he would miss.

And there he went. He ran up to the ball and gave it a good kick. Right into the goal keeper's hands.

"Oh, my god. They actually did it!" Renjun exclaimed," they actually won!" The cheers were deafening and Mark's were probably the loudest.

After yelling for a good two minutes the team got the cup and lifted Donghyuck up in the air, holding the cup above his head. Even though Mark was sitting at a pretty big distance he could see that this was the happiest Donghyuck had ever been. The smile on his face was worth more than everything in the world.

Mark became worried. _What if I ruin his day by confessing? Shouldn't this day be one of the greatest in his life? I'll probably just screw it up_. Renjun noticed his concerns and gave him an encouraging pat on the back.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine."

"Look at how happy he is right now. What if I ruin it for him?"

"You won't. You'll only make him happier, trust me."

"You think so?"

"I'm sure you will."

And those words gave Mark the confidence that he needed. He was going to do it and everything was going to be alright.

 

After the game the team was holding a small victory party in the cafeteria. Mark and Renjun met up with the other boys and congratulated them in their victory.

They sat down at a table with the five of them and drank their soda while discussing the game. Jaemin was giving Mark suggestive looks the entire time and Mark was ready to throw his soda can at his face.

An hour passed and Jaemin suddenly had to leave, dragging Jeno and Renjun with him. ("Oh, I totally forgot that I had to buy my mom a birthday present! And Jeno and Renjun were going to help me with it, right?" "Why do they have to come to buy a present for your mom?" "They have moms too, so they know what to buy." "We have moms too, you know." "Oh, yeah. I totally forgot, but we're leaving now so bye." And off they went, _that was probably the worst excuse I have ever heard._ )

  
"I'm so hungry right now," Donghyuck moaned, laying his head down on the table.

"Want to get some ice cream? My treat."

"Never will I say no to free ice cream."

  
Arriving at the ice cream parlor, Mark ordered a cone with cookies and cream for himself and a cone with mint chocolate chip for Donghyuck.

They were the only one in the shop and quietly sat down to eat their ice cream.

Mark got more and more nervous as the time went by and kept his eyes on the window to not make any eye contact with Donghyuck.

"Did you hear about the meteorshower tonight?" Mark asked Donghyuck with a trembling voice.

"Yes! I've been looking forward to it for quite a while now, actually. I really want to see it!" Donghyuck enthusiasticly replied, causing Mark to almost drop his cone at how cute the boy looked talking about it.

"I was thinking about going to the forest to see it, do you want to come with me?" Mark's voice sounding even more unstable than before.

"Yeah, sure!" Donghyuck happily agreed.

"Shall we meet in front of our houses at midnight? Since it starts at about one. And I'll bring some blankets and stuff."

"Good idea, otherwise we might freeze to death."

  
Midnight came sooner than Mark wanted and he dragged himself outside with two blankets, a thermos flask full of hot chocolate and two mugs stuffed in his backpack.

Shortly after Mark had come outside, Mark heard the door of Donghyuck's house shut behind him softly. He turned around to see Donghyuck walking up to him with the biggest grin ever.

"Are you ready to go?" Donghyuck said, jumping up and down from excitement and the cold.

  
Mark and Donghyuck settled down under a big oak tree in front of a field in the middle of the forest. Mark got the stuff from his backpack and laid one of the blankets down on the ground for them to sit on and he draped the other one over himself and Donghyuck.

They were pressed against each other under the small blanket with their backs against the big tree and an entire sky painted with millions of stars in front of them.

Mark looked at Donghyuck as he took in the breathtaking view, and thought that Donghyuck's eyes shone brighter than all of the stars in the universe combined.

He had to tear his gaze off of Donghyuck because he realized that he had been staring at him for way too long and quickly grabbed the flask to pour in some hot chocolate to warm up their cold bodies.

He handed over a mug to Donghyuck and got one for himself as well and they sat there in complete silence looking at the beautiful sky and simply enjoying each other's presence.

"You know," Donghyuck said after a while,"my parents actually didn't want me to go when I asked them, so I sneaked out of the house."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they told me it wasn't save to go to the forest in the middle of the night, and I can't blame them for thinking that, but I mean, I'm already friends with you and you're a fricking psycho, so how much worse can it get?"

"You're still not over the psycho thing I see," Mark sighed.

"Nor will I ever be," Donghyuck said with a big smile," I feel like a rebel."

"For being friends with me or for sneaking out?"

"Both."

"You're so dumb," Mark chuckled and Donghyuck giggled back at him.

"Look there's the first shooting star!" Donghyuck noticed and he pointed his index finger to the sky,"let's make a wish!"

Both of them closed their eyes and made their wishes.

"What did you wish for?" Donghyuck asked.

"If I tell you, it won't come true."

"Bullshit, just tell me."

"No, I'm not going to tell you."

"You're such a child," Donghyuck rolled his eyes.

"Then what did you wish for?"

"Two can play this game, Mark Lee. So I won't tell you anything either."

"Oh, and I'm the child."

"At least my mom doesn't put notes with smiley faces and hearts in my lunchbox."

"Touché."

 

More and more stars were falling across the sky as time went by and Mark was mentally preparing himself for what was probably the hardest thing in his life. After giving himself like five peptalks in his head he finally spoke up.

"Donghyuck?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember last time we were at the forest, when I freaked out?"

"How could I forgot about that, I thought you were having a heart attack or something. What about it?"

"Well, I wanted to say something to you back then, but I couldn't do it. But I can say it now," Mark looked into Donghyuck's eyes and saw the stars twinkling back at him. It was as if the entire cosmos had been put into them and Mark wanted get lost in them for all enternity.

"I like you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back after like twelve years. I'm sorry it took so long! I was busy and tired and I just didn't have much inspiration. But now I'm finally back with a new chapter! Please leave your thoughts about it in the comments and have a great day~


	11. Confessions and noseboops

Donghyuck couldn't believe what he heard and just stared at Mark in shock.

"You.. you..." Donghyuck's mind was all over the place and he couldn't figure out how to make a coherent sentence,"you... Me? What?"

"I-It's okay if you don't feel the same way," Mark stuttered and Donghyuck finally broke out in a smile.

"No, that's... not it. I guess that I kind of... you know... like you too," he shyly admitted.

Now Mark was the one with big shocked eyes.

"Really? You're not joking, right?"

"You aren't joking either, right?" Donghyuck hesitantly responded.

"No," Mark sat up straight, grabbed Donghyuck's hand and looked into his eyes," I really like you, Donghyuck."

"I like you too." After saying this Donghyuck could see the relieve on Mark's face.

"Oh thank god. You know, at first I thought that you hated me. But then we hung out together in the forest and it was so much fun. And after that we started spending most of our time together and I guess I fell in love with you. I just love your personality, you're so funny and you don't take shit from no one. And I love to be around you and hear you talk about the stuff you like. And I also love the way your eyes twinkle when you sing and so much more," Mark spilled out all his feelings at once.

"I did hate you at first," Donghyuck commented and Mark felt slightly hurt after spilling his heart out just seconds ago,"but after getting to know you better I thought that you were pretty alright."

"Just pretty alright?" Mark scoffed.

"I wasn't finished yet, you idiot. I started to like you more everytime we hung out together. But I didn't want to like you, so I said yes to Areum's confession. But that didn't work out very well as I just started thinking about you even more afterwards. And I couldn't run away from my feelings anymore after that and I realised that I like you."

Mark let go of Donghyuck's hand and put his arm around his shoulders instead and pulled him closer. Donghyuck rested his head on Mark's shoulder and never wanted this moment to end, here with Mark snuggled up under a blanket beneath the shooting stars and drinking hot chocolate.

"Donghyuck?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we like... boyfriends now?" Donghyuck lifted his head off Mark's shoulder to look at his face.

"If you want to be... I wouldn't be against it."

"I-I'm not against it either,"Mark said looking back at him with a timid smile that made Donghyuck's heart skip a beat and he couldn't contain smiling back himself. Mark traced Donghyuck's fingers with his own and laced them together.

"Then I guess we're a couple now," Mark stated, looking at their hands fitting together perfectly.

"Yeah," Donghyuck agreed,"the guys are gonna freak the fuck out when we tell them."

Mark giggled. Oh, did Donghyuck love the sound of his laughter.

"Not that they didn't see it coming, but still, they're gonna go batshit crazy that it finally happened," he added," and Jaemin can finally stop being such a pain in the ass. I was literally about to throw him off a cliff."

"And Jisung as well! He has been telling me to confess since you stayed over last time."

"Why are people so fucking annoying?" Donghyuck sighed and laid his head back down on Mark's shoulder

"Me as well?"

"Especially you," he replied and looked back up to find a pouting Mark," you're the most annoying one."

"You're making me regret being your boyfriend already."

"Do you know why you are the most annoying?" Donghyuck asked.

"No..." Mark sulked.

"Because you're annoyingly cute," Dockhyuck said while booping Mark's nose and giggled.

  
After talking for a bit more and finishing their hot chocolate, Mark found a half-asleep Donghyuck on his shoulder and decided that it was time to head home again.

They walked back through the rough terrain of the forest, fingers still locked together and laughter still coming out of their mouths.

  
They got back to their street and silently walked over to their houses to not wake anyone up. When they reached them they stopped.

"This was a lot of fun," Mark whispered as he grabbed Donghyuck's other hand so he was holding both of them.

"Yeah, it was," Donghyuck said blushing. And so they stood there, looking at each other in silence for about thirty seconds until Mark broke it.

"We should probably go inside again."

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired."

"Sweet dreams, Hyuckie," Mark wished him and soflty squeezed his hands as he did.

"Goodnight," Donghyuck replied and quickly pecked the other boy's cheek before he sprinted back inside. And Mark was left standing alone on the sidewalk with his fingertips tracing his kissed skin and his face completely red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody, I'm back from the dead. Sorry for waiting so long to upload but I hope you guys enjoy it! Please tell me your thought in the comments~ And as always, have a great day!


	12. A sunset at the beach

It was already 5 am and Mark just couldn't fall asleep. All he could think about was Donghyuck... and Donghyuck and even more Donghyuck. He could still feel the tingeling of Donghyuck's lips on his cheek and he couldn't phatom all the things that had happened that night. He had to convince himself a couple of times that what had happened was actually real and that it wasn't just a dream. Donghyuck really said yes and they were really together. Mark couldn't contain his joy and hugged his blanket with all his might. This was probably the happiest moment of his life.

Donghyuck woke up from his buzzing phone and he wanted to scold the person for sending him texts so early in the morning but as he looked at his phone he saw that it was already 3 in the afternoon and it was Mark sending him all those texts. With an excited smile he unlocked his phone and read the messages.

New messages from:   
_**Little Marky the Psycho Forest Fairy**  
Hyuckieeee~_

_Heyy, are you awake yet?_

_I wanted to ask you something_

_Dude, its like 3 dont tell me that you're still asleep._

Donghyuck shook his head as his fingers quickly typed a respond. _The nerve of that boy..._

New message to:   
_**Little Marky the Psycho Forest Fairy**  
Don't judge me_

_We were up until like 3 am_

_I need my beauty sleep, okay?_

Seconds later new messages from Mark popped up on his screen.

New messages from:   
_**Little Marky the Psycho Forest Fairy**  
True, true_

_But anyways, we're planning to go on a camping trip next week and my mom told me and Jisung that we could bring a friend_

_So you wanna come?_

Next week the boys had a week off from school and Donghyuck couldn't think of a better way to spend it than with Mark.

New message to:   
_**Little Marky the Psycho Forest Fairy**  
Ofcourse!_

_Gotta ask my parents first though_

_But i think that its alright_

And it was alright. Donghyuck immediately went to his mother after he sent his last text and she told him that he could go.

  
The next week crept around the corner and the boys were ready to go. Mark, Donghyuck and Jisung were squished together in the backseat and Mark's dad was driving with his mom next to him.

"Wasn't Chenle coming as well?" Donghyuck remembered that Jisung had asked Chenle to come along.

"Yeah, he couldn't make it today so his parents are bringing him tomorrow," Jisung answered.

"Oh, okay. Haven't seen that little guy ages!"

"You know you're not much taller than him, right?" Mark commented, followed by a mean glear from his boyfriend.

"Shut up, as if you're so tall. Jisung is almost your height!"

"But that's not a fair comparison! Jisung is getting freakishly tall! Have you even seen how huge his hands are?"

"You know that I'm sitting right next to you guys, right?" Jisung said.

"Still, he's like what, three years younger than you? You should be at least a few inches taller than him," Donghyuck continued without acknoledging Jisung.

"Well it's not my fault that he's becoming a fucking giant!" Mark defended himself.

"I'm still sitting right fucking here," Jisung stated again.

"Language! Both of you!" Mark's mom yelled from the passenger seat and the boys grew quiet.

"I'm still taller than you, though," Mark whispered into Donghyuck's ear, earning himself an elbow to the ribs.

  
An hour later they arrived at the campsite and Donghyuck could already smell the sea, even though it was still quite a distance away. But Donghyuck still got excited and couldn't wait to go there. So after finding their spot they quickly put up the tents, one for Mark's parents, one for Jisung and Chenle and one for Mark and Donghyuck. And when the tents were all ready the three boys quickly threw their stuff inside and headed over to the beach.

It was April, so it wasn't that warm yet, but it also wasn't freezing so they could just walk through the salty water with their barefeet. As Donghyuck was busy admiring the beauty of the ocean and Jisung was chasing a seagull, Mark took his chance and held Donghyuck's hand, making his ears slightly red. Donghyuck looked up at Mark and gave him a small smile and intertwined their fingers.

"I prefer holding hands like this," he softly said," it makes me feel like we're closer and more connected."

"Then I prefer it too," Mark complied and pressed his lips to Donghyuck's cheek. An action that would turn Donghyuck's face completely red.

"You're so cute," Mark giggled.

"Stop giggling or I will throw you into the sea," Donghyuck threatened him, but he wasn't as convincing as he was still shyly looking his feet and blushing.

"We should go here again tonight when the sun is setting," Mark proposed.

"Yeah, that's a good idea! I've never seen a sunset at the beach."

"Oh, really? They're really beautiful!" Mark said.

"Not as beautiful as me, though," Donghyuck remarked with his chin up high.

"No, not as beautiful as you," Mark agreed.

  
The evening was falling and Donghyuck and Mark made their way over to the beach again, leaving Jisung in his tent to have some time with just the two of them, what Jisung didn't mind at all as he gave his brother a suggestive look and a kissy face when they left.

Mark sprawled out a towel that he brought and they sat down on it, staring at the beautiful colours of the sky. It was a mix of orange, purple and pink and the reflection in the water made it look even more breathtaking.

"Wow, this is just... gorgeous," Donghyuck said awestruck. But Mark couldn't focus on the sunset, all he could see was Donghyuck's amazed face and the little smile that he wore. He didn't notice that he was staring until Donghyuck turned his head and made eye contact with him. Mark looked into his deep, warm brown eyes and felt himself getting lost in them and leaning in closer to Donghyuck. Mark closed his eyes and felt Donghyuck's soft lips against his own.

After a few seconds he moved back again and opened his eyes to a flushed Donghyuck.

"Yeah, it's gorgeous."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I take way too long to update, I'm so sorry! But I did upload a oneshot so please read that if you're interested, it's pretty good if I may say so myself. But as always please leave your thoughts in the comments and have a nice day!


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